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What an absurd conclusion. We have been having wars and misery for pretty much all of our history as a civilization (plenty more misery before that and proto-wa

What an absurd conclusion. We have been having wars and misery for pretty much all of our history as a civilization (plenty more misery before that and proto-wars on a terrible scale on a population basis) Our population has for most of that long time been very small, much smaller than it is now. In fact, in the last 70 or so years since WWII, our wars have become less absolutely violent, less deadly and less widespread than ever, while absolute misery among humans has also declined immensely, despite there being more than ever before of us during the same time.Malthus himself was also shown to be badly wrong, so yes, maybe he would agree with you.

watwut 6y ago
I think that ISIS behavior was almost there compared to the Nazi. They even had genocide of their own. Rwandan genocide was in 1994, long after WWII. Mao Zedong ruled between 1958 to 1962 and his Great Leap Forward policy killed more people then Hitler or Stalin. The difference is that non of these happened in Europe and United States.
- renewiltord 6y ago
  Also Mao wasn't trying to kill people with the Great Leap Forward. It's sort of like how everyone gives the British a free pass for the millions of Indians they starved during the second world war. Incompetence is bad but malice is worse.
  - watwut 6y ago
    It was not random incompetence. Human life or suffering had little value, own vision had a lot of value.
    - renewiltord 6y ago
      For the Bengal Famine or the Great Leap Forward?
  - shadowprofile77 6y ago
    The Bengal famine was a terrible example of British incompetence and indifference, and one that gets little mention (though it's being recognized more now) but I'd say it's qualitatively different than most active genocides. The British didn't purposely try to kill those people, they just facilitated the kind of stupid mismanagement of food and food production incentives that allowed for it to happen unintentionally, then took their sweet time before finally doing something to fix it. The nearby Japanese occupation of Burma and a year of exceptionally bad natural disasters in the region also had some fault. Furthermore, if they get something of a free pass it might also be because the UK was at the time desperately fighting almost alone in a huge war and barely succeeding at providing for the needs of its own domestic population, let alone diverting shipping to feed millions of people on the other side of the world. One consolation is that the Bengal famine contributed to the disintegration of the British Raj in India after the war. It had been a catastrophic catalyst for tolerance of malignantly, and as it turns out, falsely paternalistic English rule.
    - renewiltord 6y ago
      India was a net exporter of food leading up to it. So yes, they sacrificed some British subjects to save others. Mostly incompetence. Just like the Great Leap Forward.
- shadowprofile77 6y ago
  There is no size comparison between the Nazi genocides and the sorts of mostly localized horrors that ISIS is responsible for. The Rwandan Genocide was terrible but it also barely compares to the Nazis' work or to the sheer frequency of genocides before that. As for the Great Leap, it was worse, but it too is accounted for in the actual numbers of government caused deaths during the 20th and 21st centuries and they clearly show that people dying by bad, genocidal government activity has decreased enormously since the second world war. (since before that even but just to keep things concise relative to the comment above)
  - watwut 6y ago
    The Yazidis genocide is recognized as genocide. ISIS did not gained as much territory as Germans back during WWII. But they were not less violent or deadly. Merely less successful in gaining territory and bulk of Yazidis escaped with international help. As far as violence and control over population go, ISIS rule was pretty high on scale (especially control exercised against women was every aspect of life reaching) with added bonus of sexual slavery. The Rwandan genocide was on smaller geographical scale, but had no smaller level of violence and was effective in killing targeted population. The Nazi were the biggest and most successful genocide. But no genocide before that was as big as Nazi one. They were smaller and localized. And looking at list of smaller genocides, there is plenty of it after WWII (also before).

watwut 6y ago

I think that ISIS behavior was almost there compared to the Nazi. They even had genocide of their own. Rwandan genocide was in 1994, long after WWII. Mao Zedong ruled between 1958 to 1962 and his Great Leap Forward policy killed more people then Hitler or Stalin. The difference is that non of these happened in Europe and United States.

renewiltord 6y ago
Also Mao wasn't trying to kill people with the Great Leap Forward. It's sort of like how everyone gives the British a free pass for the millions of Indians they starved during the second world war. Incompetence is bad but malice is worse.
- watwut 6y ago
  It was not random incompetence. Human life or suffering had little value, own vision had a lot of value.
  - renewiltord 6y ago
    For the Bengal Famine or the Great Leap Forward?
- shadowprofile77 6y ago
  The Bengal famine was a terrible example of British incompetence and indifference, and one that gets little mention (though it's being recognized more now) but I'd say it's qualitatively different than most active genocides. The British didn't purposely try to kill those people, they just facilitated the kind of stupid mismanagement of food and food production incentives that allowed for it to happen unintentionally, then took their sweet time before finally doing something to fix it. The nearby Japanese occupation of Burma and a year of exceptionally bad natural disasters in the region also had some fault. Furthermore, if they get something of a free pass it might also be because the UK was at the time desperately fighting almost alone in a huge war and barely succeeding at providing for the needs of its own domestic population, let alone diverting shipping to feed millions of people on the other side of the world. One consolation is that the Bengal famine contributed to the disintegration of the British Raj in India after the war. It had been a catastrophic catalyst for tolerance of malignantly, and as it turns out, falsely paternalistic English rule.
  - renewiltord 6y ago
    India was a net exporter of food leading up to it. So yes, they sacrificed some British subjects to save others. Mostly incompetence. Just like the Great Leap Forward.
shadowprofile77 6y ago
There is no size comparison between the Nazi genocides and the sorts of mostly localized horrors that ISIS is responsible for. The Rwandan Genocide was terrible but it also barely compares to the Nazis' work or to the sheer frequency of genocides before that. As for the Great Leap, it was worse, but it too is accounted for in the actual numbers of government caused deaths during the 20th and 21st centuries and they clearly show that people dying by bad, genocidal government activity has decreased enormously since the second world war. (since before that even but just to keep things concise relative to the comment above)
- watwut 6y ago
  The Yazidis genocide is recognized as genocide. ISIS did not gained as much territory as Germans back during WWII. But they were not less violent or deadly. Merely less successful in gaining territory and bulk of Yazidis escaped with international help. As far as violence and control over population go, ISIS rule was pretty high on scale (especially control exercised against women was every aspect of life reaching) with added bonus of sexual slavery. The Rwandan genocide was on smaller geographical scale, but had no smaller level of violence and was effective in killing targeted population. The Nazi were the biggest and most successful genocide. But no genocide before that was as big as Nazi one. They were smaller and localized. And looking at list of smaller genocides, there is plenty of it after WWII (also before).